1 Thing You Can Do This Week

To Be Happy

There is no such thing as the whole enchilada. Enchiladas arrive in parts and need to be put together.

Most of our joy is taken away from us when our contentment is disrupted because we have not prepared ourselves for how things are actually going to roll out.

Once we realize that provision will be made in stages, we can teach ourselves to be excited about the arrival of each portion.

It’s a very simple statement to remember:

MAKE PEACE WITH YOUR PIECES.

Nobody ever nervously achieves success.

Nobody ever maintains a smile while fidgeting about whether a missing detail is delayed.

Find your peace in your pieces.

What do I actually have in front of me?

What can I start to do with what I have?

And how can I slow down the process and be thrilled with my pieces?

Happiness is when we really believe that we have enough–and if for some reason we don’t, that all things do have the ability to work together–as long as we maintain our perspective.

So take this week and work on this one thing:

I will have peace with my pieces.

 

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Turning Kids Into Humans: (Part 1) Special Delivery … August 18, 2014

Jonathots Daily Blog

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You have just received delivery of your new little baby girl or boy, with sufficient pounds and accompanying ounces.

You are thrilled.

You are ecstatic.

You feel as if you are the founder of procreation, and maybe the first person that ever completed the task sufficiently. Now–the next step is to pull out the instructions. They should read:

“We guarantee arrival, but the contents may have shifted during shipment.”

Read on.

“Does not include batteries.”

Yes, what you have received is a being who is not yet human. Perhaps you thought the unit should arrive completely assembled and energized by the correct emotional, spiritual, mental and physical electricity to make it function well and be successful.

Not so, Joe.

Your little he or she, to some degree, remains an “it” until you learn how to insert the correct charge to make your wonder child truly wonderful. By the way, here are the batteries:

1. Empathy
2. Appreciation

No child is born with them, but without them, you have all the parts but they don’t chug the choo-choo. Shall we define?

Empathy: “I can feel what other humans are feeling.”

Appreciation: “I am grateful for what has been provided.”

Children do not come with these installed. They are born “beings”–being hungry, fussy, thirsty, self-involved, unaware and ignorant.

To achieve the status of human depends on you. This pursuit is more important than piano lessons, soccer, new shoes or a college education. Without the batteries, your little bundle of joy will fail to deliver much happiness to the world around, and therefore end up defensive and cynical instead of hopeful.

So how do we, as parents, install the batteries of empathy and appreciation into our offspring?

If you will join me over the next eight Mondays, I will take you on an odyssey to uncover how this can be accomplished at the varying stages of development. It will not be complicated; it will be frighteningly simple, but it shall require your faithful attention.

All aboard!  Let’s try to become proficient with our special delivery.

The producers of jonathots would humbly request a yearly subscription donation of $10 for this wonderful, inspirational opportunity

 

The Sermon on the Mount in music and story. Click the mountain!

 

Click here to get info on the “Gospel According to Common Sense” Tour

Please contact Jonathan’s agent, Jackie Barnett, at (615) 481-1474, for information about scheduling SpiriTed in 2014.

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G-18: Fellowship or Companionship … April 4, 2014

Jonathots Daily Blog  

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It’s not enough

I don’t know how to tell you

You have given me so much

I value your love

I treasure our relationship

I feel you inside me

I am thrilled with my work

I am enthralled by my home

I adore the creatures around me

If perfect is possible, then here it is

At my fingertips

In my pulse

Yet sadly, my friend, it is not enough

I simultaneously feel a vacancy and a sense of shame over the lack

I really tried to make a go of it

I felt as if work, fellowship and purpose should be sufficient to my need

I was wrong

I do not want to lie to you

I do not want to sneak away in a corner and pretend

I yearn for companionship

What is that?

Someone to hold in my arms

To confirm my presence

Someone to share blessing and blame

Someone for me to pleasure, and in turn, draw my pleasure from

Someone who disagrees, but remains

Someone who is like me but in a different sort of way

Someone who is sometimes stronger

Sometimes weaker

Honestly, someone who isn’t you

Someone who is, well … me

I don’t want to complain

But it is not enough

 

The producers of jonathots would humbly request a yearly subscription donation of $10 for this wonderful, inspirational opportunity

Click here to get info on the “Gospel According to Common Sense” Tour

Please contact Jonathan’s agent, Jackie Barnett, at (615) 481-1474, for information about scheduling SpiriTed in 2014.